Bassist and composer Bren Plummer has put together a tasty band of Northwest allstars for his latest album, Moldy Figs. From Jay Thomas (trumpet) to Stuart MacDonald (sax), D'Vonne Lewis (drums) and Susan Pascal (vibraphone) as well as guitarist Frank Seeburger, it's a group of talented players and bandleaders themselves.
Pascal may have put it best when she explained that she finds Plummer's music fresh and challenging, just what a good jazz musician wants to play.
Surely it's exciting. Complex and grooving compositions that still left plenty of room for this group to blow some thrilling solos. Plummer says these players take his tunes to heights he never imagined.
Working in both classical symphonies and jazz groups around the Northwest, Plummer calls Moldy Figs a dream project. For your information, that album title is an old term bebop players would call older swing players they considered un-hip. Plummer considers it a reminder that even the most modern jazz is built on the foundations of what's come before.
One of his songs was considered for the live broadcast but set aside as a bonus for our studio audience. Jay Thomas and other band members were concerned they wouldn't be able to pull it off, but after this off-air experiment was attempted, Thomas said it was his favorite number. You can check it out here.
Whether you catch Bren Plummer in a symphony or jamming with the jazz cats, he's yet another talented neighbor worth checking out.
